Since Ed the Sock’s This Movie Sucks! debuted on May 28, 2010, the show has been a popular search topic for URBMN.  Channel Zero recently announced a “renewal” of sorts for TMS!, in this press release for CHCH’s second year under Channel Zero ownership.

The show will have two new episodes in the coming weeks, according to Channel Zero’s Sonya Davidson.  August 28, 2010 will be what Davidson terms an “E3 Special,” which I assume means TMS! will visit/make fun of the Electronic Entertainment Expo.

September 18, 2010 will be the “season premiere,” though it’s really the seventh episode.  The schedule since c. July 2010 has been one new episode followed by two to three reruns.  There have been re-edits of the Attack from Space and Bride of the Gorilla episodes, as well as new opening credits.

At this point, This Movie Sucks! is definitely not as slick as Mystery Science Theater 3000 in its prime.  I’m not aware of MST3K in its KTMA days being as sloppily-edited as TMS! often is.  At least Charlene Zacks was turfed after the initial outing.

Ron Sparks’ involvement with This Movie Sucks! varies by episode, and Andrew Young is now well-established as chief butt monkey.  I don’t know what kind of a budget TMS! has to work with, but it certainly isn’t playing with CityTV scratch.

The show’s still a “find out at midnight Saturday to see if it’s a new episode” affair, but that’s due more to lack of publicity than anything.  At least TMS! actually re-edits weaker episodes.  You would not believe how much the Bride of the Gorilla episode has improved with actual riffing.

With this and CHCH’s new version of Sportsline, it’s like CHCH wants to assemble some weird amalgamation of “classic” Toronto television.  I mean, Mark Hebscher‘s hosting nü Sportsline.  Now all we need is a Just Like Mom revival…oh, shit.

According to Jayme Pfahl of Vancouver production company Gang of 2, CBC Television has passed on Fancy as a possible series.  Pfahl gives a March 2011 prospective airdate for the pilot itself.  The exact airdate is subject to change by CBC.

Fancy is about children’s show host Maureen Fancy (Kate Hewlett.)  Fancy is cheery on-set, and miserable away from the camera.  Playback and Hollywood Reporter scribe Etan Vlessing also mentions Patrick McKenna and Jana Peck as part of the cast.

Pfahl co-founded Gang of 2 with Angus Fraser.  Pfahl and Fraser recently produced The Cult, a pilot which aired on CBC earlier in 2010.

While Fancy‘s premise isn’t original, I think the idea could sustain a series.  CBC Television has shied away from dark comedies as of late, given CBC’s shift to lighter dramas and reality shows.

100 Things Every Man Should Know and Floorwalker are still in development with CBC.  A third CBC/Gang of 2 project, After, is no longer being developed.

I’d like to see at least one Gang of 2 product get past CBC Television’s pilot stage.  I’m not one to complain about CBC’s existence, but why does CBC keep rejecting shows I might be interested in?  There’s something scary about HBO Canada, APTN and Showcase being the vanguards of edgier comedy in this country.

On September 14, 2010, Mill Creek Entertainment and Cookie Jar Group will release a complete series set of The Legend of White Fang.  This story has previously been mentioned by TVShowsonDVD.com.

The Legend of White Fang originally aired in Canada on Family Channel, while HBO aired the series in the US.  The Legend of White Fang was produced when Cookie Jar was known as CINAR.

I remember The Legend of White Fang from its Global run, sometime in the mid-1990s.  For a show mainly aired as CanCon-mandated filler, the series was surprisingly decent.  Pierre Berton was even The Legend of White Fang‘s historical consultant.

Truth be known, The Legend of White Fang was a bit boring at times, a problem CINAR shows often had in the 1990s.  I’d still take The Legend of White Fang over Sharky & George, The Smoggies and…ugh…C.L.Y.D.E.

What gets me is how Mill Creek Entertainment and Cookie Jar Group sell this set.  The box set front cover image is of a generic posterized husky.  The cartoon did not look that good.

Also, Mill Creek and Cookie Jar have this habit of passing off unrelated items from the Cookie Jar archives as “extras.”  Seriously, what do Busytown Mysteries, Flight Squad and The Country Mouse and the City Mouse Adventures have to do with a loose Jack London book adaptation?

This isn’t even a new phenomenon.  Mill Creek and Cookie Jar pulled this stunt with the Dark Oracle series set.  It’s annoying.

Here are the opening credits to The Legend of White Fang.  You can see YTV logos and a horrible Canadian flag animation circa 2000 plastered over the credits.  The show got around.

Todd and the Book of Pure Evil will debut on SPACE Wednesday, September 29, 2010.  The first two half-hour episodes will air back-to-back, from 9:00 PM to 10:00 PM ET.  The show stars Dark Oracle‘s Alex House as the title character.  Maggie Castle, Bill Turnbull, Melanie Leishman, Chris Leavins and Jason Mewes also star in the series.

SPACE is pimping Todd and the Book of Pure Evil rather heavily, with a Todd-centric InnerSPACE special airing September 22, 2010 at 9:00 PM.  The show will also be previewed at FanExpo Canada on August 28, 2010, at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.

As for Lost Girl, it debuts on Showcase Sunday, September 12, 2010, at 9:00 PM ET/PT.  The show stars Anna Silk as nascent succubus Bo.  Also appearing are Ksenia Solo as Bo’s best friend Kenzi, Kris Holden-Reid as shapeshifting homicide detective Dyson, and Zoie Palmer as Lauren the human.

A current trend in television is to take monsters and set them against a modern relationship drama or sitcom backdrop – Being Human, Ugly Americans, True Blood, Neighbors from Hell, this.  I’m generalizing a bit, but a lot of shows are embracing and/or subverting horror conventions.

I’m looking forward to Todd and the Book of Pure Evil more than Lost Girl.  Todd and the Book of Pure Evil doesn’t do itself any favours by the “Evil Dead meets The Breakfast Club” self-comparison.  At least the press bumf contains the words “vengeful penis monster.”  I can’t get a bead on what this show will be like.

As for Lost Girl, I’m on the fence with this series.  It uses the basic “human-like cryptid learns of her secret past” plot.  I’ve also obtained two scripts from the series.  Nothing stands out for me.  Lost Girl takes itself so damned seriously for a show about faeries.

I don’t want Lost Girl to be Troma-level dumb, but Todd and the Book of Pure Evil might be the smarter proposition here.  I never thought I’d say that about a show starring a slacker and his magic evil book, but there we are.

You know the drill by now.  Tags are here and here.  Here are the new season sets of shows from the Alliance vaults, ’cause capitalism is as subtle as Kevin Thompson’s acting.

Andromeda: Season 4 (October 19, 2010)
Earth: Final Conflict: Season 5 (October 26, 2010)
F/X: The Series: Season 2 (October 26, 2010)
Les Invincibles: Complete Series (October 19, 2010)
Mutant X: Season 3 (October 26, 2010)
The Adventures of Sinbad: Season 1 (October 19, 2010)
The Adventures of the Black Stallion: Season 1 (October 19, 2010)
The Outer Limits (1995): Season 7 (October 5, 2010)

Koch Canada gave The Adventures of Sinbad a first-season release in 2004, then abandoned the title.  Not surprisingly, The Adventures of Sinbad will be quickly ground through the Alliance video mill, as the show only lasted two seasons.  I forget if the first season is the one where Sinbad and Doubar fight toilet paper in one episode.

The Alliance releases are finally showing signs of slowing down.  Earth: Final Conflict, Mutant X, F/X: The Series and The Outer Limits (1995) have been exhausted.  Andromeda has one more season to go.

The Adventures of the Black Stallion already has a complete series set out, through Echo Bridge Home Entertainment.  Echo Bridge Entertainment bought Alliance Atlantis’ international distribution arm after Alliance Atlantis was dismantled in 2007.

To be honest, The Adventures of the Black Stallion is the first redundant title Alliance has released in a while.  Echo Bridge is rereleasing the series in season volume sets right now.  Not a good move, for either Echo Bridge or Alliance.

My prediction: you’re going to see Neon Rider and Bordertown very soon.  Mark my words.  These rush releases have their problems, but better this than letting the titles rot in archive hell.  I still want Night Heat.

My Life ME, an anime-style Canada/France co-production, will debut on the French version of Télétoon September 2010, according to Teletoon publicist Megan Dunkley.  The English-language version is currently set to air in the fall of 2011.  Programming schedules, of course, are subject to change.

My Life ME has been in development since 2006, part of a slate that included The Dating Guy, Punch and Best Ed.  It will be the fourth cartoon from the 2006 slate to debut on Teletoon.

My Life ME has changed its international distributor since going into production in 2008.  Original distributor TV-Loonland AG filed for insolvency back in November 2009.  Classic Media has since picked up international distribution, licensing and merchandising rights for the show.

My Life ME differs from Teletoon’s upcoming non-Japanese anime The Amazing Spiez! in that there’s an actual manga pedigree, albeit of the original English-language (OEL) variety.  Russian-born Canadian Svetlana Chmakova is responsible for Dramacon and Nightschool.

I admittedly don’t know how properties are developed at the cable/network levels.  I realize shows die in development all the time.  Still, Best Ed came and went in the spring of 2009.  Punch! aired at the start of 2008.  The Dating Guy will debut this fall.  That’s a long wait from development to finished product.

I hope My Life ME will be more Azumanga Daioh than 6teen for manga fans.  The last thing Teletoon needs right now is another niche show catering to teens.  I’ll still support My Life ME over, say, Hot Wheels Battle Force 5 and Johnny Test.

Saturday Night at the Movies, TVOntario’s longtime film-and-interviews block, will have a new host as of October 2, 2010.  Thom Ernst will step in front of the camera as SNAM‘s new host, though he has been an off-camera interviewer for companion show The Interviews.  Ernst has been with SNAM in various roles since 1998.

SNAM has had a few hosts in its 37-season history: Elwy Yost, Shelagh Rogers and Johanna Schneller.  The show has embraced a hostless format for much of the 2000s.

SNAM will preface its 37th season with 36 Years of Conversation, which airs September 25, 2010 at 8:00 PM ET, SNAM‘s usual start time.  This special is basically the best of The Interviews.

I’m glad to see Saturday Night at the Movies embrace a host format again.  I’m not familiar with Thom Ernst’s work, but TVO has promoted an in-house producer to the host role.  He should be well familiar with how the show works.

SNAM‘s overall format has gone wayward its last few years.  It’s morphed from a showcase for older films into a general-interest film block.  SNAM also has the tendency to repeat films it’s already aired, like Brazil and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen.

I’m not sure how many films on Saturday Night at the Movies this year are new to TVO.  I know both Videodrome and The Host are rehashes.

Current SNAM is at its best when it airs curios like West is West and Phantom of the Paradise.  I wish SNAM would air more obscure and/or underappreciated films.

Even given TVO’s perpetual budget problems, it could try for Coonskin and Rock & Rule.  I’m not kidding about those suggestions.

I really want to see more animated films on TVO.  It’s an avenue well worth exploring – The Plague Dogs, the original Heavy Metal, Allegro Non Troppo, even A Town Called Panic.  If none of the mentioned films fit SNAM‘s m.o., I want to know why.

Astral has recently announced fall 2010 schedules for the six premium-cable properties it owns.  For the purposes of this site, I will just highlight two Canadian premieres and one returning series.

Call Me Fitz, the Jason Priestley sitcom, will debut Sunday, September 19, 2010 at 8:00 PM ET/MT.  The show also stars Ernest Grunwald, Peter MacNeill, Kathleen Munroe, Tracy Dawson, Donavon Stinson and Brooke Nevin.

Durham County‘s third and final season will debut October 2010, with no specific date or time announced so far.  The show stars Hugh Dillon, Hélène Joy, Laurence Leboeuf and Greyston Holt.  Michael Nardone will join the cast for Durham County‘s swan song.  Both Durham County and Call Me Fitz will air on HBO Canada.

Meanwhile, Family Channel will debut Connor Undercover Friday, September 17, 2010 at 9:30 PM ET/PT.  The show will stay in the Friday timeslot for the duration of its run.  The show stars Max Morrow, Lola Tash and Jordan Francis.

Call Me Fitz will debut with back-to-back episodes.  I’m not sure if that’s a good sign.  This line from the press bumf worries me a bit:

His sybaritic lifestyle undergoes a radical transformation after a disastrous test-drive puts a potential customer in a coma and unleashes Fitz’s conscience, literally, in the form of Larry, a gentle man intent on rehabilitating Fitz’s battered psyche.

Oh boy!  A crisis-of-conscience sitcom!  The trailer looks better than the concept, at least.  I get the feeling Call Me Fitz was pitched as “Jason Priestley is a conflicted asshole!…yeah, we’ll come up with more later.”  At least it’s not the Minder ripoff I thought it was going to be.

As for airing Durham County on HBO Canada…why?  That’s an arbitrary move, considering HBO Canada is a sister channel to The Movie Network/Movie Central.  While I’m looking forward to DC‘s final season, what’s wrong with airing it on TMN/MC?

The two networks have a branding I don’t fully understand, other than HBO Canada airing HBO shows and The Movie Network/Movie Central airing Showtime shows.  I don’t think there’s much of a distinction.  As an aside, that new Astral logo is a multicoloured turd, isn’t it?